Now, if you ask the question, "Is it good for Article Bot to steal your projects, and then create sites of their own with your projects and then lie to you about it?", I would answer NO.  But if you ask the question, "Do the creators of Article Bot have any track record of doing anything other than being honest, open, and willing to help others beat the search engines?", the answer is YES. 

We cannot prove things which did not happen.  So, this is our reply to what the truth is.

There are many issues we will discuss on this page. Each is separate yet related by a common theme. The theme that relates these issues is: Truth.

First, we want you to know that if we were in your shoes and read that Article Bot was "spying on you" or "stealing your content" we'd be concerned, too. You know (or should know by now) that we believe the greatest evil thrust upon the internet (and the "real world") is the dominance of the real criminals, the search engines. So, it would be a matter of concern to us, too, if we thought that the software we bought to create content was actually stealing our hard work.

Second, some say we steal keyword lists, seed documents, html templates, Adsense code, and entire Article Bot-created projects. It is also said that this happens "every time" a project is created, and that that we've done this since "at least" version 1114 (in real time that was basically all of 2005).

The truth is that we never have taken, for any purpose, keyword lists, seed documents, html templates, or entire Article Bot projects. Any comments, posts, stories, rumors, blog posts, or websites that say Article Bot steals (takes, ftps, or whatever) keyword lists, seed documents, html templates, Adsense code, or entire Article Bot-created projects are flat out, unequivocally, bold-faced untrue.

Third, it has been said that Article Bot does all of this "stealing" without any "warning" to Article Bot users. This too, is untrue.

The Article Bot order form that every user must click through to get Article Bot contains this: "ArticleBot will, from time to time, collect information from registered users. This information will be for the sole us of Strike Saturday, Inc., and not disseminated to any third parties. In other words, your information will remain the private and sole property of you and Strike Saturday, Inc."

The orderform also contains this, "I further declare that I have read, understand and accept Article Bot's business terms as published on their web site. By pressing the ORDER button below, I agree to pay Article Bot." This language has been on our orderform since the first sale we made of Article Bot. That's one irony about this situation: We've told users since day one that we would from "time to time" collect information from them. We've never made a secret of that. We've never hidden that. We've never lied about that.

So, before we continue, please consider what you may have read outside of Article Bot. Think about it and re-read what we've said above.

Here's an email we received tonight, "I'm still amazed by your product and continually envision new uses. Your service has always been personable and courteous (heck, how many marketers accept personal phone calls?). Keep your head up, friend."

Here's another we received last night, "Ya know, that whole forum thing was really pathetic. So many people have their priorities backward... These guys are worried about something that may or may not be happening on top of that they have totally trashed a forum that has been to some degree really crucial in my learning experience. People speak the way they do on forums because they're spineless, lack integrity and don't have the character that made this country great. You have my support. You know the difference between right and wrong. You don't have to explain anything to me."

And, this email (which realy speaks volumes), "I'm sorry I started that thread on (a message board). I saw the thread on Phil Wiley's forum and thought it was bullshit and good for a laugh. Little did I know it would start a big problem for you guys."

The only data we collect is this: If a sitemap of a project is created that is uploaded to our server. If a project creates 100 pages or more, one copy of the 100th output file is uploaded to our server. And, none of this has your name, or email address attached to the file. Also, these are files which would be taken by Google, Yahoo, MSN (et al) if you uploaded them to the web. If you did not, these files are meaningless. The facts about our data collection are this:

1) It was set up for security purposes. It may or may not surprise you that there are malicious people out there who want to steal Article Bot. One way we believed we could monitor that problem was that if we thought someone was using Article Bot without paying for a license we could just look at logs of projects created. Ironically, this process is way too tedious and we only checked (and by "we", I mean, ME - Don Harrold) the server logs two or three times in the last year. TWO OR THREE TIMES. To this day, I still do not know, which folder in our FTP actually contains which data. The times I've checked the logs I had to root around to find what I was even looking for. In short, we just don't ever think about these logs. In fact, I don't believe Andy Skinner has looked at these logs even one time.

2) We also thought the data could be used for error-checking. Andy Skinner, Article Bot's programmer, had no experience with large memberships. I am in my 7th year of high-volume web subscription services. I've managed up to 6,000 paying users - on a staff of only three people - and it is not easy. What I know is that if you have a membership of say, 10 people, your support issues will be, basically, zero. However, if you have 1000 members you'll get emails and support requests multiple times a day. So, each day if you get only a 1 in 100 of your users requesting support you'll have at least 10 emails a day for "support" issues. I know that most support issues are individual, and not "system wide", and so to give us an easy way to discern that, we set up a system where we could check instantly whether or not Article Bot was "working" for "everyone" or not. If projects were being created then we would know that Article Bot was "working" and that the user's issue would be individual. If projects were not being created, we'd know that there was a more serious issue at hand.

Our logic can be discussed. Our thinking on these issues is fair to have an opinion on. If you think there is an easier way to achieve the two goals we state here (security and error-checking), we're open to that. However, we do not steal keyword lists, seed documents, html, Adsense code, or entire Article Bot projects.

All of what I've stated here is truth and, more importantly, provable.

Finally, you need to know that we are on your side. Our goal was - and is - to give you a tool to "take back" the stolen internet.

On a philosophical note:  There is more than just a semantic difference between "stealing" your "entire Article Bot project everytime" and what we actually do - collecting periodic sitemaps or 1 output file.  You may or may not like the fact that we collect ANY data.  And, that's a fair opinion to have.  But, the leap from "stealing original seed documents (etc)" to collecting 1 output file after 100 spins and a sitemap IF one is created is not fair.  If we wanted keyword lists, seed documents, and entire projects, we could get that stuff.  But we don't. 

Our reputation, honor, and integrity is on the line here.  We've spent a long time building something to help win the fight against the evil search engines.  And, yes, we think they are evil.  So, what kind of people would we be if we were doing what we've been accused of?

Right.  We'd be just about as low as you could imagine.  Yet, nothing we've collected goes beyond what we've stated.  More importantly, though, is that our server logs will show what the data is and when we even looked at it.

I guess you'll have to decide what and who you believe.  In the end, though, truth will win out.  And, we are very happy with what the truth reveals about us, our company, and our intentions.

Sincerely,
Don Harrold
Co-Creator, Article Bot
thebot@articlebot.com